Reporting

Rep Jamaal Bowman’s (D-NY) “Broadband Justice Act,” co-sponsored by Housing Subcommittee Chairman Rep Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), would require the Housing and Urban Development Department, along with the Treasury and US Dept of Agriculture, to update its utility allowance definitions to include broadband so it can be subsidized for families living in government-assisted housing. Other utilities like gas and electricity are already subsidized in this way.

When President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 on March 11, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) received $200 million, the largest single increase in the agency’s 25-year history. Of the $200 million, $178 million is allocated for the Library Services and Technology Act and will go to state library administrative agencies on a population-based formula. IMLS announced stat

Democratic lawmakers are beginning to focus on the next big-ticket item on their legislative agenda, a massive infrastructure package, and the broadband money they plan to include in it.

Colorado and federal lawmakers want to put big money into more efforts to expand high-speed internet access. In Colorado, about 90,000 rural residents and 65,000 students across the state do not have access or adequate access, according to a recent Colorado Broadband Office 

Rogers Communications has agreed to buy Shaw Communications for about 20 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to roughly $16 billion. The deal, which would remove Canada’s fourth-largest wireless provider from a thin competitive arena, will be scrutinized by three federal government agencies, including the competition bureau, the Canadian telecommunications regulator and the department of industry. Innovation, Science and Industry minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that the government would focus on affordability, competition, and innovation in its analysis of the deal

School by Screen | School systems in America are not done with remote learning. They want more of it. School systems across the country are looking at remote learning as a way to meet diverse needs — for teenagers who have jobs, children with certain medical conditions, or kids who prefer learning virtually. It has also emerged as a way to expand access to less-common courses. If one high school offers a class in Portuguese, students at another school could join it remotely.

Schools were working well before the pandemic to address the challenges presented by the digital divide, which disproportionately affects Black, Latino, and Native American students and those in low-income households. The shift to distance learning dramatically raised the stakes. Schools had to take a lead because the federal government has failed to make internet available and affordable, said Blair Levin, an Obama-era Federal Communications Commission official.“The schools were so stressed,” Levin said. “It was not easy. It was a big burden.”

Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T held events to update investors and analysts on spectrum auction results, and laid out plans for expanding their 5G networks. There is "no question" the carriers' new spectrum holdings will improve consumers' experience of using 5G, said Craig Moffett, founding partner and analyst at MoffettNathanson. But the carriers largely expect it will take several years to put the new spectrum to use. This spectrum auction helps the carriers, especially AT&T and Verizon, fill a key gap in their 5G networks.

There are estimated 12 million students who, according to a recent analysis, lack internet service or make do with a patchwork of short-term fixes to participate in remote learning. Their issues are regionally specific, from a lack of broadband in the isolated reaches of Appalachia to worn-out and obsolete devices distributed to poor families on Chicago’s South Side.

Here are the names you'll hear a lot as Biden builds out his tech policy apparatus at the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission: